Hicks is the White House communications director and one of President Trump's closest aides. Yet she has never given a TV interview. She is rarely quoted at all. She is the yin to Trump's attention-grabbing yang.

And right now she's in a terrible place for a press-shy person to be: In the middle of not one but two White House scandals.

Hicks, 29, has been dating Rob Porter, the Trump aide who resigned Wednesday after his two ex-wives accused him of domestic abuse.

The White House initially tried to weather the storm. When the Daily Mail called for comment before publishing its story on Tuesday, Hicks helped defend Porter -- sources told CNN that she worked with other aides to craft a supportive statement that was put out in chief of staff John Kelly's name.

The administration continued to defend Porter on Wednesday, even after photos of injuries from the alleged abuse were published by news outlets. Press secretary Sarah Sanders said Porter would not be leaving immediately. Observers wondered whether Hicks' relationship with Porter was a factor.

By the end of the day Wednesday, as the scandal deepened, sources said Porter would be gone as soon as Thursday.

Meanwhile, Hicks is also caught up in Robert Mueller's investigation into obstruction of justice and other matters.

That the president’s staff was unable to recognize the seriousness of the allegations against Rob Porter may reflect how many members of his team have faced similar claims—including Trump himself.

It doesn't surprise me, given who's in the White House, that the White House folks who knew about Porter's domestic abuse accusations didn't consider them a big deal. Or that the people who didn't know were shocked and surprised and couldn't believe it of Porter when they found out. (What, they hadn't seen him running around punching women in the White House? Really? Do they not understand the "domestic" part of "domestic violence"?)

What gets me is that the people who knew apparently didn't care enough about Hope Hicks to warn her about the guy she was dating.

If so, that's pretty horrible.

Then again, Hope Hicks apparently helped to craft some of the official statements in defense of Porter's character, too, which seemed to characterize his ex-wives as nothing but politically-motivated character assassins. Conflict of interest, much, Ms. Hicks?

The public's eyes always forever pretend like they never know when a man is a domestic abuser. They even lie, keep secrets and cover things up about their abuses. So they can continue to rise in the ranks at their important jobs. It's no surprise to me that someone accused of such acts could date freely, rise in their jobs freely and never even get called out on what they did? Because we don't even want to investigate man on woman domestic abuses in my opinion. It's easier for the mostly male FBI and police forces to just, gloss over, their brothers-in-arms's mistakes and never prosecute so they don't ruin their lives or reputations. While the women they date suffer over and over at their man's own hands.

Amy Lee wrote:Just what we all need... more lies about a world that never was and never will be.

Azula to Long Feng wrote:Don't flatter yourself, you were never even a player.

No, he couldn't be granted a permanent security clearance. It just made him a blackmail risk, which goes away now that everyone knows hes a dirty wifebeater. The other stuff about Trump and Kelly knowing he's a wifebeater, and still promoting him is messed up.

The New York Times wrote:WASHINGTON — Hope Hicks, the White House communications director, told House investigators on Tuesday that her work for President Trump, who has a reputation for exaggerations and outright falsehoods, had occasionally required her to tell white lies.

But after extended consultation with her lawyers, she insisted that she had not lied about matters material to the investigations into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible links to Trump associates, according to three people familiar with her testimony.

The exchange came during more than eight hours of private testimony before the House Intelligence Committee.

Unsurprisingly,

Ms. Hicks declined to answer similar questions about other figures from the Trump campaign or the White House.

She also pointedly and repeatedly declined to answer questions about the presidential transition or her time in the White House, lawmakers who sat in on the testimony said, telling investigators that she had been asked by the White House to discuss only her time on the campaign. They added that she did not formally invoke executive privilege.

A lawyer for Ms. Hicks declined to comment.

The committee, which has been investigating Russia’s meddling for nearly a year, has increasingly found itself butting up against the White House over similar claims by witnesses.

idonno wrote:I'm pretty sure that any White House communications director that can't avoid admitting to telling lies when questioned should be fired for incompetence.

Well, she just resigned!

There's a certain amount of freedom involved in cycling: you're self-propelled and decide exactly where to go. If you see something that catches your eye to the left, you can veer off there, which isn't so easy in a car, and you can't cover as much ground walking.

idonno wrote:I'm pretty sure that any White House communications director that can't avoid admitting to telling lies when questioned should be fired for incompetence.

Well, she just resigned!

... Wait...

So... Trump keeps losing communications directors, does that meant that he will eventually run out and have to manage his communications himself?

... That would mean Trump would have to explain all his Tweets...

... This is a plot of the Elder Things to drive every human completely batshit insane.. clearly....

We're in the traffic-chopper over the XKCD boards where there's been a thread-derailment. A Liquified Godwin spill has evacuated threads in a fourty-post radius of the accident, Lolcats and TVTropes have broken free of their containers. It is believed that the Point has perished.

idonno wrote:I'm pretty sure that any White House communications director that can't avoid admitting to telling lies when questioned should be fired for incompetence.

Well, she just resigned!

... Wait...

So... Trump keeps losing communications directors, does that meant that he will eventually run out and have to manage his communications himself?

... That would mean Trump would have to explain all his Tweets...

... This is a plot of the Elder Things to drive every human completely batshit insane.. clearly....

Or she's done looting what she could, and is now off to cash in. It's kind of a running theme that despite the wealthiest White House in recent history, they all desperately want money. Hope Hicks is one of the many many Trump staffers who all get the max salary in DC, 179,000 dollars.